BurmaNet News, June 2, 2004

[Editor]

June 2, 2004, Issue # 2487


INSIDE BURMA
Financial Times: Burma reform talks 'surreal' says UN envoy

BUSINESS
Xinhua: Myanmar's tourism campaigns launched
Xinhua: Software use increases among SMEs in Myanmar

REGIONAL
AFP: Abducted Myanmar activist released: lawyer
New Straits Times: Abdullah raises thorny issue of Suu Kyi with Khin

INTERNATIONAL
The Nelson Mail: Burmese keep culture alive
UPI: U.N. says child soldiers are increasing


INSIDE BURMA
______________________________________

June 2, Financial Times
Burma reform talks 'surreal' says UN envoy - Amy Kazmin

Bangkok: Burma's constitutional convention is "a meaningless and
undemocratic exercise," a United Nations human rights envoy said
yesterday.

Abandoning diplomatic niceties, Paolo Sergio Pinheiro, the special
rapporteur on human rights in Burma, warned that the junta's political
reform roadmap would not work, unless unreasonable curbs on free
discussion at the convention were eased immediately.

He described the participants - an estimated 1,088 people mostly
hand-picked by the junta - as essentially "condemned
to house arrest".

Mr Pinheiro accused the junta of breaking its international promises to
free Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Prize winning democracy advocate, before
the talks, and to include her National League for Democracy in the
proceedings.

"The roadmap has had a most regrettable launch," he told reporters in
Bangkok yesterday. "I don't know what is the purpose of this surrealistic
exercise."

Burma's National Convention, which began on May 17, is the first step in a
seven-stage political reform programme unveiled by the junta last year,
after south-east Asian governments pressed the regime to improve its
appalling international image.

The junta claims the reform roadmap will eventually lead to multiparty
elections. However, the NLD, which won a landslide election victory in
1990 but was barred from taking power, is boycotting the constitutional
talks because of the junta's refusal to free Ms Suu Kyi.

Convention participants are being held at a tightly guarded, isolated
compound, and are forbidden from leaving the premises, or communicating
with relatives or other outsiders, for the duration of the proceedings.

Mr Pinheiro, who has been barred from entering Burma for the last six
months, said the convention, in its current form, "lacks . . .
credibility, and will neither promote national reconciliation nor end
Burma's virtual pariah status".


BUSINESS
______________________________________

June 2, Xinhua News Service
Myanmar's tourism campaigns launched

Yangon: Myanmar has launched tourism promotional campaigns in some Asian
nations to prevent drop of tourist arrivals which is one of the main
sources for the country' s foreign exchange earning.

Following the event in New Delhi last April which attracted 117 travel
agents and travel writers, Myanmar also launched such campaigns in Japan's
Osaka and Tokyo, Singapore and Malaysia in May, involving the Myanmar
Airways International and dozens of local hotels and travel agencies, a
latest release of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism said.

Tourist arrivals in Myanmar registered 205,610 in 2003, a sharp drop of
33.8 percent from the previous year when it was 310,971, according to the
local tourism magazine "Today".

Of the tourists, those from Asia region accounted for the majority with
121,392 or 59 percent, while those from West Europe represented 58,161 or
28.29 percent, the magazine said.

Of the Asian travelers, Thailand was leading with 22,214 or 10. 8 percent,
followed by China's Taiwan region with 9.5 percent, Japan with 9.14
percent and China's Mainland with 7.5 percent, it added.

According to official statistics, Myanmar so far has 570 grade-hotels with
more than 17,200 rooms, involving an investment of about 583 million US
dollars plus 33 billion Kyats (about 41.2 million dollars).

Contracted foreign investment in the sector of hotels and tourism has so
far amounted to 1.06 billion dollars in 43 projects since Myanmar started
to open to such investment in late 1988.

_____________________________________

June 2, Xinhua News Service
Software use increases among SMEs in Myanmar

Yangon: Computer software use among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in
Myanmar is increasing despite a decline of such use among big businesses,
according to a latest disclosure of software industry sources.

Software developers attributed the increased use among SMEs to growing
awareness by such business owners on the application of information and
communication technology (ICT) to boost their businesses.

However, the decreased use of software among big business organizations
such as banks and supermarkets was due to financial problems during the
past year. The financial problems created hindrance to expansion, which in
turn negatively affected the big business software industry, the sources
blamed.

In spite of the fact that financial problems have slowed Myanmar's
software industry they have not stopped its growth, they said, urging the
software developers to strive to break into the international market to
help develop the industry.

Meanwhile, the country's ICT is expected to make the first step into the
international market when it opens its Singapore division later this
month, the sources revealed.

Myanmar's software industry began to expand with the establishment of the
country's ICT Park in early 2002.


REGIONAL
_____________________________________

June 2, Agence France Presse
Abducted Myanmar activist released: lawyer

Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysian-based Myanmar activist and journalist who was
abducted on his way to cover the arrival of visiting Prime Minister Khin
Nyunt has been released from captivity.

Minn Kyaw, 26, was freed late Tuesday 13 hours after unidentified men
abducted him from his car and kept him captive in a van with tinted
windows, lawyer Latheefa Koya told AFP.

"He said they interrogated him about his activities here and about who was
funding his pro-democracy movement. They also slapped and punched him from
time to time," said Latheefa, who is also a local rights activist.

Minn Kyaw and his Malaysian wife, Yussra Shahril, were on their way to
Kuala Lumpur International Airport when their car was forced off the road
by two vehicles.

His wife has said the abductors claimed they were members of the Malaysian
police special branch before handcuffing him, placed a hood over his face
and sped off. But police have denied the allegations.

Latheefa said Minn Kyaw recognised one of his abductors as a military
intelligence officer from Myanmar who had been tailing him in the country.

Minn Kyaw, the editor of a website called Burma Media Link which supports
detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, has UN refugee status in
Malaysia.

He has filed a report with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
following his release, Latheefa said.

Khin Nyunt received a red-carpet welcome and held talks with his Malaysian
counterpart Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on a brief visit Tuesday to Kuala
Lumpur, his first stop of a Southeast Asian tour amid fresh criticism of
Yangon's approach to democratic reform.

_____________________________________

June 2, New Straits Times (Malaysia)
Abdullah raises thorny issue of Suu Kyi with Khin - Deborah Loh

Putrajaya: Malaysia raised the thorny issue of Myanmar's pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi with visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Gen Khin
Nyunt today and urged that Asean Governments be kept abreast of herstatus.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Khin discussed the issues in a restricted
meeting.

"Abdullah conveyed the message that while not interfering in Myanmar's
domestic affairs, it was important that Malaysia and other Asean members
be informed about the status of Suu Kyi's house arrest and why her party,
the National League for Democracy was not participating in the country's
national convention to draft its constitution.

"Myanmar is a matter of interest to the international community and
Malaysia needs to know what is happening there so we feel comfortable when
we have to explain the issues to others," Syed Hamid told reporters after
sending Khin and his delegation off after their one-day visit.

Asean Governments have in the past not raised issues on Suu Kyi in view of
the group's non-interference stand over domestic issues of neighbouring
countries.

Syed Hamid said Malaysia's decision to raise the question of Suu Kyi and
Khin's explanation showed that the Myanmar leader understood the
neighbouring countries' concern over the situation there.

He said Khin explained that the NLD had decided to stay out of the
constitutional talks but the Government was not closing its doors to them.

Foreign reports said the NLD boycotted the talks because the Government
refused to free Suu Kyi. Syed Hamid said in today's meeting Khin did not
bring up the issue of Suu Kyi's release and had said that the reason for
her detention was to enable the drafting of the constitution at the
convention to proceed smoothly.

The convention was launched on May 17 and is being attended by more than
1,000 delegates who will decide on a draft constitution. The draft will be
put through a national referendum for public approval.

This is expected to be followed by elections where the people will elect
representatives to the upper and lower houses.

"Malaysia is interested in seeing that the democratic process comes to
Myanmar, so that it is not marginalised by the international community.
They are trying to proceed towards democracy so they should be given a
chance," Syed Hamid said.

He said while Malaysia felt that the drafting of the constitution should
include all parties, including Suu Kyi, Kuala Lumpur did not intend to
impose the stand on Myanmar.

Before Khin left Malaysia this afternoon, he held a brief meeting with
United Nations Special Envoy to Myanmar Tan Sri Razali Ismail, who said he
wanted to return to Myanmar soon to continue mediation.

Earlier, Khin was accorded a state welcome at the Prime Minister's
Department. Abdullah then hosted a luncheon for Khin and his delegation,
which included several Ministers.

After their restricted meeting, Abdullah and Khin joined their respective
government officials for a delegation meeting where they discussed
expanding bilateral ties in various areas, including agriculture,
fisheries, tourism and information technology.

Syed Hamid said Malaysia was Myanmar's fourth largest investor, with more
than US$600 million (RM2.28 billion) in approved projects there. Some
projects had yet to take off due to the Asian financial crisis, and
Malaysia would look at putting them back on track.


INTERNATIONAL
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June 2, The Nelson Mail (New Zealand)
Burmese keep culture alive - Beth Catley

Members of Nelson's Burmese community are working to retain their culture
by running classes to teach their children how to speak Burmese.

Aung Maung, who came to Nelson as a political refugee in 1994, has
organised the classes, which are held for two hours every Sunday at
Victory School.

Many of the children were forgetting their language, he said, and two
volunteers had been teaching the children Burmese language, songs and
dances.

Meemee Maung (no relation) came to Nelson about three years ago, when her
daughter was just eight months old.

It was very difficult to ensure she would be able to speak Burmese when
she grew up in New Zealand, Mrs Maung said.

Mr Maung said his own daughter, who was six, could understand him and his
wife when they spoke to her, but replied in incomplete Burmese.

Thirteen children aged between three and 10 were taking the classes, he said.

Mr Maung said there were about 55 Burmese people in Nelson. The community
had been boosted by the arrival of 10 families in 2001, and four young men
had arrived in Nelson this year.

The community had become large enough to start organising itself, and
members had formed the Nelson Burmese Education and Culture Society to
help retain their culture, and to teach Nelsonians about their country.

''Most people don't know where we're from. Sometimes they mistake Burma
for the Bahamas. They ask: 'Where is Burma?' and when we say it's close to
Thailand, they know Thailand but not Burma.''

_____________________________________

June 2, United Press International
U.N. says child soldiers are increasing

Paris: Around 300,000 children worldwide are being forced into army
service, according to a U.N. report released Tuesday.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund report, the number of
children being abducted or forced to serve as soldiers is growing.
UNICEF's executive director, Carol Bellamy, said the practice had become
systematic in some countries, RTHK reported.

The report said the trend of using both boys and girls under 18 as
infantry had increased by 50 percent in eight years. It said children were
being used as combatants, messengers, porters, cooks and for forced sexual
services.

Myanmar was named as the worst offender with some 77,000 child soldiers.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Liberia and Angola were next,
with numbers ranging from 30,000 to 11,000.

Also on the list, with undetermined numbers of conscripted children, were
Northern Ireland, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Nepal, the
Philippines and Indonesia.